Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecture
The Saskatchewan Library Association established the Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecture Series in May 1967. The lectures are given annually by leaders in the field of library science or related fields. While the lectures are designed primarily for librarians in the province, they are open to the public in the belief that library trustees and friends of the libraries will also find them thought-provoking and challenging.
The Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecture is typically held in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Libraries Conference in the first week of May each year.
SLA is pleased to announce John Lagimodiere, President of Aboriginal Consulting Services, as our 2023 Mary Donaldson Memorial Lecturer.
Recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal and Saskatoon’s Living in Harmony Award, John Lagimodiere is a dedicated community builder and entrepreneur. President of ACS Aboriginal Consulting Services, he has been delivering Indigenous awareness seminars since 1997 while he built a 25-year career in the media as Editor/Publisher of Eagle Feather News and as a regular contributor to CBC, where he was host of the award-winning national show, As If, on CBC Radio.
Lagimodiere is also the recipient of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce ABEX Award for Aboriginal Business. His Métis roots are in the Red River, and he is a citizen of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan. John’s straight forward and humorous delivery are why he is a highly sought-after keynote speaker, master of ceremonies, and facilitator.
Biography of Mary Donaldson
Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (1908 – 1966) was born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1908. She received a B.A. from the University of Alberta in 1928 and a B.Sc. in Library Science from the University of Toronto in 1929. She started her professional career as a cataloguer in Toronto and Edmonton Public Libraries, and the University of Saskatchewan, where she served briefly as chief cataloguer before transferring to Saskatoon Public Library as chief assistant librarian in 1945.
In 1948, she headed a group of Canadian librarians attending the International Summer School for Librarians in Manchester, England. Thereafter, she maintained a keen interest in library development throughout the world and was an active participant in library association affairs at all levels. From 1951 until her death in 1966, she held the position of Provincial Librarian for Saskatchewan. She also served as President of the Canadian Library Association from 1956 to 1957.
To honour her memory, the Saskatchewan Library Association established the Mary Donaldson Trust. In May 1967, the Trust began providing a public Memorial Lecture Series to honour her memory. Ten years later, the Mary Donaldson Award of Merit was established to recognize library support workers and the essential services that they perform in Saskatchewan libraries.
Past Mary Donaldson Memorial Lectures
2022 Aaron Paquette, “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the New World”
2021 No lecture due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020 No lecture due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2019 Zarqa Nawaz, “The Power of Story”
2018 David Chalk, “Disruptive Innovation: The Truth about Man vs. Machine is Overdue!”
2017 Bill Waiser, “Henry Kelsey”
2016 Lindsay Knight (aka Eekwol), “Indigenous Conceptualizations of Creativity”
2015 Gabrielle Scrimshaw “Leadership and Education: Our Shared Canadian Journey”
2014 Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain”
2013 Lorne Calvert “The Library: Literacy, Lobby and Life”
2012 Mary-Anne Kirby “I am Hutterite”
2011 Brad Fraser “Censorship and Me”
2010 Dr. Vianne Timmons “Reading Together, Succeeding Together: The Importance of Family Literacy”
2009 Maude Barlow “The Myth of Abundance: Canada and the Global Water Crisis”
2008 Fred Kent “What if We Build Our Cities Around Places?”
2007 Robert Sawyer “Science Fiction as a Mirror for Reality”
2006 Dan Yashinsky “Suddenly They Heard Footsteps: why we listen to told stories”
2005 Arthur Black “The Wit and Whimsy of Arthur Black”
2004 Tim Wynne-Jones “This Place Is Totally…This Place, Libraries: Real Community In A Virtual World.”
2003 Gail Bowen “Ruth Rendell and Me”
2002 Glen Sorestad “The Opening of Doors”
2001 Roch Carrier “The National Library of Canada: tradition in the new millennium”
2000 Roy Bonisteel “Read Any Good Web Lately?”
1999 Mark Kingwell “Storage/Retrieval”
1998 Don Ching “Public Enterprise in Saskatchewan: The Ties that Bind”
1997 Sharon Butala “Lost in Cyberspace”
1996 Ben Wicks “Caring in a Technological Age”
1995 Bill Richardson “Truth be told: Coming Out as a Writer”
1994 Janet Lunn “The Power of Story”
1993 Jean Dirksen “The Joy of Empowerment: Library Leadership for The ’90’s
1992 Barbara Clubb “Discovering That Immeasurable Quality”
1991 Pierre Berton “Writing Narrative History”
1990 Stephen Lewis “The Struggle for Literacy Abroad and at Home”
1989 Wes Fine Day “Education”
1988 Mel Hurtig “Speech on Free Trade”
1987 Adrienne Clarkson “Canada: a Possible Vision”
1986 John Gray “Learning to be Dull: the Canadian Cultural Experience”
1985 John Sawatsky “Librarians as Investigative Journalists”
1984 Emma LaRocque “Three Conventional Approaches to Native People in Society and in Literature”
1983 Patrick Lane “The Liberal Vision and the Death of Culture”
1982 Frances Morrison “Saskatchewan Libraries: Remembering Dreams and Recalling the Past”
1981 Andreas Schroeder “Compensation for Authors, or the Search for the Elusive Red Jellybean”
1980 Donald C. Kerr “Moving Pictures, the Great Dream”
1979 Eli Mandel “Culture and Literacy: Contemporary and Canadian Writing”
1978 Marion E. Gilroy “Pioneers! O Pioneers! The Genesis of Regional Libraries”
1977 Bede Hubbard “The Humanist Imperative”
1976 A.L. Karras “After Publication — Reaction”
1975 Roy B. Stokes “I Had Forgotten About the Wind”
1974 Allan R. Turner “Bearing on the History of Saskatchewan”
1973 Carlyle King “Far Horizons, Man Alone: Landscape and Man in Saskatchewan Writing”
1972 Richard Blackwell “A British Beaver’s Eye View of the Book Trade”
1971 Lura G. Currier “The Librarian in the Political Arena”
1970 Alberta Letts “Provincial Library Service – Today and Tomorrow”
1969 Frederick G. B. Hutchings “The Impact of William Morris”
1968 Mary E. P. Henderson “Planning the Future by the Past”